re: FedEx worker keeps his composure during a racist encounter in Douglasville, GA

quote:

---

I don’t think saying the N word necessarily makes you a racist. A lot of people who don’t hate people because the color of their skin will use the word because they are pissed off and trying to be as offensive as possible.

---

If you were in therapy and you said this, what do you think the reaction would be?

quote:

---

Most people that use the word probably don’t walk around thinking every black person they see is a lesser human being or peice of shite.

---

But the suggestion is that they would jump to using that slur immediately when minorly inconvenienced? That certainly suggests a conclusion.

quote:

---

Do you know how easy it is not to be racist?

---

Do you mean to say “do you know how easy it is to not say racist things?”

Both sides of that video need Jesus.

quote:

---

But the suggestion is that they would jump to using that slur immediately when minorly inconvenienced? That certainly suggests a conclusion.

---

I'm gonna side with the everyone has racist thoughts, how bad they are can vary greatly. This one is centered on black people, but its easier to look at other options. People hear stereotypes and think things in moments of stress. It doesn't have to be this awful like him spouting that shite to the delivery driver. It could be something as simple as an Asian driver cutting you off and thinking about the bad Asian driver stereotype.

quote:

---

This, but it’s past time people learn that this doesn’t matter. The perception will always be that if you are white and say that word you are a racist, might as well be in the Klan. It’s just how it is and no amount of protest will change that. Stop saying that word.

---

Well yeah, if you use that language you kind of forfeit your "I'm not racist" defense. You might have a long history of gentleness toward people of all races, but you've provided evidence of your inner thoughts to the world that will be hard to refute (even if it isn't very reflective of your beliefs).

Also, as we move away from language like that and it becomes rarer and rarer, the shock of hearing it increases. I live in Atlanta, have lived in the South all my life, and I have plenty of prejudiced and uncharitable thoughts. But it's jarring to hear the N word and makes me recoil. So as the years pass I think our argument on this diminishes somewhat. I think its still very applicable generally (the idea that using bigoted language under stress or having a prejudiced thought isn't a good indicator of your central beliefs), but less so to more drastic language like the N word.

quote:

---

If you were in therapy and you said this, what do you think the reaction would be?

---

Who cares what the reaction would be? And why am I in therapy in this scenario? The point being that I believe most of the time the word is used is because people are irrationally pissed off and trying to be as mean as possible. I don’t walk around thinking everyone woman is kunt but when one pisses me off that’s the word that comes to mind because I know it’s most offensive term to most women. Same goes asians and white trash fricks in ridiculously large pickup trucks.

Note*- I don’t remember the last time I’ve uttered a racist or sexist word out loud but they sure do enter my brain from time to time. But I’m really more of sexist so I don’t have the emotional bandwidth to be both sexist and racist

quote:

---

of course it's a charger"

---

This is an actual thing?
**jeauxbleaux**

quote:

---

he has black acquaintances and friends

---

I seriously doubt it. He probably has black coworkers, and he knows how to be cordial. But with how he's acting in this video, I seriously doubt he has actual black friends. If he did, he just lost them all from this video. He knows how to behave in public, but imo he just showed us his true thoughts.

quote:

---

But I suspect you know black people who have said gay/white/whatever slurs in anger

---

Actually, no, I don't. I know people who will make jokes about other races, but that's all it is, jokes. I don't know people who just starts hurling slurs whenever they get a little angry. Who tf are ya'll hanging around?

quote:

---

Well, my inclination is that if someone uses a slur, they are racist. And it is far easier to not say racial things if you do the very basic work of not essentializing people by virtue of things they can't control.

---

I think this centers on the idea that this is actually about race as the foremost element. I mean, for this guy I might be. But for most people it's about a mental caricature of a stereotype with race at the middle - thug, fresh off the boat, whatever. The stereotype of the bad asian driver has "being Asian" as a core element, but the immutable characteristic is different from the element really being targeted (clueless driving).

quote:

---

Actually, no, I don't. I know people who will make jokes about other races, but that's all it is, jokes. I don't know people who just starts hurling slurs whenever they get a little angry. Who tf are ya'll hanging around?

---

You don’t know anyone who has used a slur of any kind in anger? That just doesn’t seem plausible. No distant relatives who have crazy beliefs? If you are Black, you are saying you don’t know any other black people who think crazy things and speak about them with relation to Jewish people?